Serum uric acid levels and risk of kidney cancer incidence and mortality: A prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: Epidemiological evidence investigating serum uric acid and kidney cancer risk remains unclear. We conducted this study to examine the relationship between serum uric acid and the incidence and mortality of kidney cancer. METHODS: This is a prospective analysis of 444 462 participants without any cancer from the UK Biobank. Serum uric acid was measured at baseline and the incidence and mortality of kidney cancer was determined through contact with the cancer and death registry. Cox regression models were fitted to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI), adjusting for demography, lifestyle style, comorbidities, and medication use. RESULTS: We documented 638 incidence cases and 188 mortality cases of kidney cancer over a median of 6.5 years follow‐up. People with the highest quartile had a 45% increased risk of kidney cancer compared to those with the lowest uric acid quartile (HR 1.45, 95%CI 1.08 to 1.93). Subgroup analyses showed that serum uric acid was associated with cancer risk among females but not among males (Q1 vs Q4: females HR1.47, 95%CI 1.01 to 2.16; males HR 1.19, 95%CI 0.91 to 1.56). Although we found serum uric acid was associated with an increased risk of kidney cancer mortality in age‐stratified model (HR 2.49, 95% CI 1.61 to 3.84), this association disappeared after further adjustment for other confounders. CONCLUSIONS: High uric acid is associated with a high incidence of kidney cancer, especially in women. More research is needed to confirm our findings.